Fire-shutter.



T. E. COLLINS.

FIRE SHUTTER.

APPLICATION man JUNE 28, 1916.

Patented Oct. 9,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l I 720772062 Collz'mi Patented 0 1;. 9, 1917.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

awM M a 5 T. E. COLLINS. FIRE SHUTTER.

' APPLlCATlON FILED JUNE 28, 1916. 1,242,658;

To all whom it may concern:

" WEED W Wares.

. THOMAS E. COLLINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-SHUTTER.

7 Be it known that I,T1-1oMAs E. CoL INs, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inFire-Shutters, (Case 2,) of which the following is'af full, clear,concise, and exact description, refereiencebeing had to the accompanyingdrawing,

forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to automatic fire shutters. a I

The conditions ofoperation imposed upon devices of this class aresevere. These devicesare generally employed to guard openas a door andduring fire conditions it must serve as an automatic closure.

- Devices of this class generally consist of a door or shutter elementwhich may be operated normally as a door and a closing means which isnormally inactive but which becomes active to positively close door orshutter element upon the occurrence of fire conditions. Due to thenecessity of using a powerful and positively acting closing means, theautomatic shutter is exposed to various severe usage. This has beenremedied to;an extent by the application .,of governing means forregulatlng the speed ofclosure. On some types of doors, the governingmeans is constantly connected .to the shutter. It thereforeis subject tocontinual wear by the ordinary usage of the device as a door and may toa certain extent lose its adjustment. It alsomakes the door morediflicult to operate. V

Other devices have been proposed whereby'the governing device is in'thenature of a spring or the like forcounterbalancing or governing theclosing means. gThis spring is normally disconnected from the shutterand becomes-connected only upon the occurrence of firecondition. Thistype of governor or .controllerhas been found to be cylinder-and airport; and

the same.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 0013.9, 1917; Applicationfiled June 28,1916. SeriaLNO. 106,310. l i

unreliable as the spring tension varies and may inadvertently'becomejchan'ged or lost so that fallure results. Furthermore, to besuccessful the door must always be inth'e same position when theautomatic closing diflicult to determine the condition of the device. pY

My lnvention a'nns to provide a simple and eflicient brake 1ncomblnatlon with an automatically closing shutter which is free from theabove ob ectlon and which 1s accessible and inexpensive and which isreadily adjustable to secure different speeds'of op eration. V v

I In the accompanying drawings in which I have illustrated one form ofmy invention V Figure 1 is a front elevation with parts broken away of afire shutter-embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a left hand elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is aright hand elevation of the same on a slightly enlargedscale; i

Fig. 4: is a front View of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3; V 3

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail view of the F ig. 6 is a view taken at pA shutter or curtainl (see Fig. 3) "has its upperend attached to'thedrum 2, themajor portion of the curtain being normally wound [rightangles to '60 means is applied,totherwise the spring ten- I upon. thedrum. The curtain 1 is'composed of a number of metallic sections securedtogether in such manner as to permit the curtain to be wound upon thedrum as described. The drum 2 is supported at the left end upon a shaft3 and at its right end upon" a shaft 4, these two shafts being axiallyin line. A

counterbalancing springois containedwithin the drum 2 and this springhasone end attached to the shaft 3 and the other end attached to the drum2. The tension of the spring may be suitably adjusted by means of aplate Bywhich is keyed to the shaft 3.

The plate 6fis provided with a number jof ends of which bar projectbetween the parallel sides of the angle bars lt and 15 which form agroove for guiding the bar'13. An angle bar 16 is attached to the frontof the bar 13 and a channel bar 17 is attached to the rear of the bar13. The outer end or flange of the channel bar 17 is adapted to engagethe lintel 18 of the doorway. An iron bar 19 is normally suspended froma shaft 20 and is adapted under fire conditions, as will be describedlater, to be dropped into'the channel 17 to cause the curtain to belowered. The bar 19 is provided with hooks 21 which engage arms 22 onthe shaft 20 so that when the shaft 20 turns into the position shown inFig. 3, the bar 19 will be supported upon the shaft 20. A pair of cables23 are supported from brackets 24 and these cables pass through the endsof the bar 19 forming guides therefor to prevent accidental displacementof the bar 19.

The shaft 20 has bearings in the end plates 10 and 11. The left hand endof the shaft 20 has a weighted raising lever 25 secured thereto as by apin or T. The lever v25 is'normally held in the raised position, asshown in Figs. 1 and 2, by means of a controlling lever 26 which isformed in the shape of a bell crank and pivoted to a plate 27 secured tothe end plate 10. The horizontal arm of the bell crank 26 is adapted tobe moved under the end of the weighted lever 25, the vertical arm of thebell crank 26 being held by a wire or cable 28 which includes a fusiblelink 29 in such position as to be subjected to any excessive rise oftemperature, such as would occur in case of fire. The opposite end ofthe cable 28 is secured to the vertical arm of a bell crank lever 31which controls the connection of the governor to the drum. It is obviousthat the cable 28, instead of being secured between the two controllingbell crank levers, may be connected through a suitable abutment orstationary object, or may be so arranged as to release the twocontrolling levers at substantially the same time. It is also obviousthat a single controlling lever may be employed to control both deviceswithout departing from my invention.

y The governor which I'employ is normally disconnected from the shuttermechanism so a door Without operating the governor.

There is thus a minimum of wearv upon the governor. The curtain is notsubject to the drag ofa governor during normal oper ation. The shaft 4which is connected to the .drum 2 projects out through the end plate 11and bears a gear 32 which is keyed to the shaft 1. A weighted bell cranklever 33 having the longer arm 34- projecting outward from the wall ingenerally a horizontal direction, is pivoted at 35 to the end plate 11.The other endof the bell crank lever 33 bears a pin 36 which'serv'esas abearing forthe pinion 37. The pinion-37 is preferably providedwith aflange 38 formed integrally with the body of the pinion to provideproper support for the wrist pin 40 which may be screwed into any one ofthe holesll, 42 and A3. 'The purpose of the adjustment of the locationof the crank pin 40 is to secure a greater or less stroke. A suitablecylinder 44 is mounted upon the end plate 11 in a generally verticaldirection in position to be operated by the pinion 37 when the same isrotated. The cylinder 4 1 is provided with a piston 45 mounted on thepiston rod 4.6. The piston rod 46 extends completely through thecylinder, being guided by suitable bearings in the cylinder head at bothends. The

piston rod is connected by a suitable wrist have ports therethrough, asshown in Figs.

5 and 6 controlled by suitable means such as the set screws 51. Theweighted arm of the bell crank 33 is normally in the raised position asshown in full lines inFig. 3 and the pinion 37 is out of mesh with thegear 32. The controlling lever'31 is pivoted on a plate 52 secured tothe end plate 11. A swinging latch member 53 is pivoted to the bottom ofthe plate 52 and lies in such position that when the Weighted arm 34%drops downwardly to put the gear 32 and the pinion 37 in mesh, the armwill be held in the downward position to prevent disengagement of thegears. A suitable stop or bracket 5% is provided to prevent excessivemovement of the arm'3l. It can- At the same time, the weighted arm 34,be-

ing released, throws the pinion 37 into engagement with the gears 32 sothat the drum is connected to the governor by the release of the thermalcontrol. The air governor forms a dashpot or fluid brake which iseffective to secure a rapid but smooth descent of the curtain. As thecurtain unwinds the effective diameter of the drum becomes less and dueto the increase in speed the governor becomes more effective.

This fluid brake is not to be confused with a friction brake as thevoperation of the two are totally different. The fluid brake preventsless friction to movement for slow speed than it does for high speed,presenting practically zero resistance to start the same. In a frictionbrake, on the contrary, the friction is excessive just before startingand becomes less after move ment is initiated.

It is apparent that the fluid brake may be otherwise constructed andthat the means for connecting the same operativel to the drum may bevaried and I consi er such variations to be within the spirit and scopeof my invention.

' I claim:

1. In combination a flexible curtain, a drum for said curtain, means forlowering said curtain, a gear connected to said drum, a pivoted arm, apinion having a bearing on said arm, said pinion being adapted to meshwith said gear but being normally out of mesh therewith, a fluiddash-pot connected to said pinion to oppose rotation thereof, andautomatic thermally controlled means for moving saidvarm to cause the Ipinion to mesh with said gear, and latching means for holding said armin position to maintain said gear and said pinion in mesh.

2. In combination, a casing having a roller therein and a shutter woundon said roller, a weight to move the shutter, a restraining arm for theweight, a gear operable with said roller, a lever pivoted adjacent saidgear and carrying a pinion, a fluid brake connected with the pinion,fusible means to restrain said arm and lever, destruction of saidfusible means permitting the weight to actuate the shutter and allowingsaid lever to move said pinion into mesh tard movement of the shutter.

with the gear to connect the brake and re- 8. In combination, a drumhaving a fiexible shutter wound thereupon, a weight to cause descent ofsald curtaln, a gear'on said drum, a reciprocating fluid brake having av crank and connecting rod, a pinion associated therewith, a levercarrying said pin-' ion, a restraining arm for said lever to maintainsaid pinion out of engagement with said gear, means to suspend saidweight, and fusible means extending between said weight suspending meansand said lever, whereby upon destruction of the fusible means said leverand said weight suspending means will be simultaneously actuated.

4. In combination, a casing, a roller mounted therein and a flexibleshutter wound on said roller, and a weight to lower the shutter, arestraining arm for the weight, a gear operable with said roller, a

' lever pivoted on said casing and carrying a pinion, retarding meansconnected to the pinion, means to support said lever, and a fusiblemeans weight arm and last said means. I

5. In combination, a casing having a roller therein and a curtain woundon said roller, a weight to lower the curtain, means to restrain theweight composed of an arm,

a gear connected to the drum, a retarding and the pivoted arm droppedbringing said pinion into engagement with the gear to retard thedownward movement of the cur tain.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 21st day ofJune A.D. 1916.

THOMAS E. COLLINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

extending between the

